Leadtime League: What Makes Commercial Tool & Die a Winner

Learn More About Commercial Tool & Die Inc. 

Read the company’s featured stories from 2008 and 2009:

• Commercial Tool & Die: High Quality and Employee Innovation Drive Success

• Commercial Tool & Die: Innovation And Improvement Are Keys to Success

Learn More About the Leadtime Leader Awards Competition.

Check out these FAQs, and consider these 5 things:

1. The Leadtime Leader Awards are all about honoring excellence in moldmaking. MMT’s Leadtime Leader Awards seek to recognize excellence in industry leaders and in those aspiring to be industry leaders.

2. It’s about quality, not quantity. It’s not just about whether your shop has the shortest delivery times. It’s about what you do with what you have. Any shop that performs moldmaking operations is eligible to compete.

3. Shops that win go the extra mile. They complete the questionnaire fully and with detail, and then they go a step further. They include things like PowerPoint presentations, photographs, employee input and videos in addition to the questionnaire. They also express very clearly a passion for their work and a desire to win!

4. Winning pays off. Do you need a little motivation? This is what Commercial Tool’s current president, James Bouwman, says about what the award has done for its business: “Winning the award twice is part of our heritage and part of our legacy as an organization. Being recognized provided validation that our shop could take positive action to improve delivery times. We took current resources, technologies, tools and techniques and made changes that positively impacted our lead times. The award created a renewed sense of pride in our workmanship. All employees received a copy of the issue, and we still find them around the shop. We also received accolades from customers, suppliers, former employees, the township and our insurance provider. In the long-term, winning the Award gave our team confidence in our systems, processes and approaches to improvement. And, leadership also knows that winning such an Award has a larger meaning. We entered the contest as part of a long-term plan to improve as an organization. As with most Award programs, it’s the journey that matters. Along with this journey, we learned new, more efficient ways of doing things and many of these methods are still in use today.”

5. There’s no time to waste! MMT encourages shops to enter online before the end of the year. Don’t let the business of the end of the year or your planning for next year’s shows prevent you from entering. You’ll be glad you did.

   Enter the 2019 Competition Today.

   A shop can enter using the registration form that is available online. If you have questions about the competition or the registration process, contact Editorial Director Christina Fuges at cfuges@gardnerweb.com.